Tag: wedding food
On the Lilac Guest list are individuals with dietary needs that at first I was extremely worried about meeting all of them. What kind of a menu would we have if we catered all of these known food issues: Seafood Allergy Peanut Allergy Celiac (Gluten-Free) Diabetes Lactose intolerance Vegan
 Photo from dietsinreview.com
I just returned from an exciting weekend in California. My bridesmaid Teri flew out with me to get some wedding stuff done along with some good LA shopping! We visited Falkner Winery and went over the menu. I have to say this is some of the best food I have ever had. If it is as good the day of the wedding that it was the day we tried it, we are in GREAT shape. Here is the menu.
To round out our weekend home, we tasted our menu for the wedding and had our engagement photos taken. We tasted chicken and trout. We liked both, but decided on a roasted chicken instead of a baked chicken. Additionally, we’re doing a pork dish that looked amazing. With those three options and a chef’s choice vegetarian dish, I’m sure people will have enough options to feel comfortable. Rounding out the meal will be a Cesar salad and wedding cake!  From allrecipes.com The engagement photos were quite fun! Expecting 32 degrees and rain/sleet, Dahlia Dude asked permission to shoot in the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee. What a beautiful place, and fitting for our wedding. The details were amazing, cats with glowing eyes on the ceiling, lions on the staircases, and a kissing balcony. I can’t wait to see them and will post as soon as we get them back from the wonderful Molly of mthree studios.
OK, so much has been discussed about our casual, family focused wedding, and the inspiration for our menu. Also, I think I have made it pretty well known that our caterer, Donna Marie, is an absolute dream to work with, who, when I told her about troubles we were having with our venue, told me that “if worse comes to worse, I have a barn that we can put some tables up in, and we can do your wedding there!”… unheard of right?? So the bottom line is, to stick with our casual feel, while trying to avoid a ‘typical wedding meal’ of dry hotel chicken, we have come up with a cajun themed menu. My mom and step-dad have thrown cajun parties ever since they went to New Orleans, probably ten years ago now. Ian first had it when they put one on for my going away party, a couple of months before we got engaged… he loved it, and so did his parents. It is a tasty menu, in which diners get their hands dirty, and I hope it will give our guests something to talk about.
The other really exciting component is the fact that we are serving family style. We definitely did NOT want buffet (it seems to take wayyyy too long, and we want our evening to have momentum!), and plated just didn’t seem the best way to set-up the cajun menu. Family style service is essentially how you would serve a meal to your family… each menu item is served at the table, from large serving dishes. This means guests will be passing the ribs, getting to know each other, and hopefully enjoying themselves!
The menu has, like most elements of our planning so far, not come together without some bumps. We knew we wanted to serve fun food, in a casual, homey environment. While the wedding will still be a classy affair, it is definitely more rustic-chic than casual elegance. It’s a wedding in the mountains, with all of our family and closest friends by our side… and we want the food to reflect our excitement at having our nearest-and-dearest celebrating with us!  From thesunblog.com Before the details, I must comment on working with caterers. The Lodge that we have booked has an in-house caterer (ok, he’s not technically in-house, but he is their go-to-chef for weddings) that we were strongly encouraged to use. After speaking with said-chef, it became clear that his plan was really not in line with ours… our conversation went something like this:
Oh my goodness! How did it get here so fast? These last few weeks have been a blur of wedding planning activities: Researching and buying wedding invitation supplies, designing our invites (still in progress), making appointments, and tasting, tasting, tasting and more tasting!  From ambrosia1.net That’s right, we had 4 different tasting experiences in 2 weeks! 1 with the caterer for appetizers and meals, and 3 with different bakeries for our cake!
OK, so I have already mentioned our differences in menu ideas… I wasn’t even joking about the pot-luck!! Geranium Dude is very casual when it comes to menu planning. A typical evening sounds like this… “heh babe, what would you prefer for dinner, Thai or pancetta wrapped sea bass?” to which he replies… “um, sure!”. When we go out for dinner, there are generally two qualifying questions we ask when choosing restaurants: 1. Do they use quality ingredients and have healthy options? and 2. Do they serve generous portions at reasonable prices? These questions have somewhat limited our options, but trust me when I say that we have our short list of reliable stand-by restaurants which we frequent on a regular basis, and on those rare occasions that Ian likes to get adventurous and try something new, I undoubtedly have a LONG list of places I’ve been dying to try!! In fact, I have almost every page of John Gilchrest’s “My Favorite Restaurants in Calgary and Banff” rabbit eared for those very occasions!
The one aspect of wedding planning that Calla Lily Dude was excited about was the catering, so he was thrilled that we had a tasting with our caterer this week. Without even considering other caterers, we wanted to go with one of our favorites, the best BBQ restaurant in our area, Ludy’s Main Street BBQ & Catering.
 Photo from ludys.com
One of the ways we’re planning to incorporate our cultures into the wedding is through the food we serve during the reception. I happen to be a big food geek, so this felt like a natural thing to do. Also, we tend to cook dinner together most evenings, so it’s always been a bonding activity for us to experiment with food and create flavors that appeal to both of us. We want the food at the wedding to be plentiful, flavorful, and most of all, to represent us: our families, our histories, our tastes, and our cultures. Thankfully, my cousin was married earlier this year and the food at her wedding was great. The caterer she used is an Indian restaurant in Cleveland, and we’re thinking of going with them as well. They’re capable of providing various styles of food, not just Indian food. And ethnic food caterers tend to be cheaper than traditional caterers. We’re thinking something along the lines of indian curries, lentils, rice and naan alongside mashed potatoes, collard greens, fried okra and barbecue. Yum!
Anyone else have specific goals they’re trying to accomplish with the food at their wedding? |
Engagement Pictures..To Do or Not To Do
by Hydrangea Bud
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Hurricane!
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The Lilac E-session
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How does this all affect the wedding menu? Well, as you all know, in planning the wedding meal, you have to add in a heavily weighted third question: 3. Can we afford to serve this to 120+ people?? Oh, and if you have read 
